Most people around the world right now are being advised to stay at home, and I don’t know about you, but I’ve been finding it difficult to keep on top of things and stay creative. For other people, maybe you’re now having to teach your children at home, or you’re working long shifts, and you just need something to do to relax. It made me think, journaling prompts are the perfect way to do this, as they can be tailored to you and make you do something creative once a day. So, in this blog I’ve put together a list of active journaling prompts and challenges for you to look through and hopefully one or two look interesting to you!

Recommended Supplies:

• Journal – As always, it will be no surprise to you that my pick is the Archer and Olive Journal. The lovely and thick pages have no bleeding or ghosting, so you get a clean start for every project spread! Also, it means you can decorate the spread without worrying about it.
• Pencil – To carefully plan out your ideas so you can make sure your spread has everything you need.
• Fineliners –My favourites are the Unipin fineliners as they’re waterproof, affordable and have a strong nib.
• Decorative Touch (optional) – This could be anything from washi to watercolour, or of course, nothing! I usually like to add a personal touch to my spreads so they’re more fun to use and look at.

Journaling Your Way

Journaling Your Way (@journalingyourway) is run by a group of bullet journalers on Instagram. They created the community to bring together other journalers, and inspire people to be creative and feature creators to a larger audience. Each month Journaling Your Way releases a prompt for people to interpret in their own way, and features those who take part.

The prompts vary, from taking a picture with your journal to get to know each other, to getting inspiration from a selected journal spread to create a spread in your own journal.

The best part of joining in the prompts is being a part of the wonderful, kind community that Journaling Your Way have created. So make sure to go over and follow them! You still have time to join in on their April prompt, which is hiding an Easter egg in any spread for people to find!

Different Doodles

The Different Doodles challenge was created by two popular bullet journalers on Instagram: Nicole (@plansthatblossom) and Mark (@menwhobullet). Their prompts are extremely unique, asking you to do anything from filling a page with tiny doodles, to building your own aquarium. You can find the prompts by following Mark and Nicole on Instagram, who both post the prompts a few days before the beginning of the month.

And that’s not all! Whilst on the surface their prompts follow the standard method of giving you one prompt each day of the month, not all is always as it seems! Nicole and Mark make some of the most creative rules. One for example came in two parts. In the first post they asked you to create a page full of shapes. They later released the next post with all the prompts, describing how you will make each shape into a face each day of the month. This prompt was extremely fun, and really pushed people to be creative.

With Different Doodles, it’s fair to say you truly don’t know what will come next. And that’s just one reason why I love it, and why they manage to get 100s of people using the hashtag each month. If you’re just joining and you have the time, I recommend you go back and find some of their older prompts, as they have all been super unique!

The Journal Life

One account putting out some wonderful prompts right now is The Journal Life (@thejournallife on Instagram). They have put out manageable, themed prompt lists for people to do in their time. These challenges have five to six activities per prompt, and therefore are especially suitable for anyone increasingly busy in this time.

Most importantly though, the prompts are designed to encourage you to keep using your journal through these difficult times, and take some time for yourself. The Journal Life explicitly state there is no wrong or right way to complete these prompts! Simply complete whichever catches your eye in your own way and time.

The Journal Life plan to keep releasing prompts, so make sure to go follow them on Instagram to not only find the ones they’ve already published, but to

100 Day Project

Many people around the world participate in 100 day challenges every year, aimed to work and improve on something important to them. From what I can find, Lindsay Jean (@lindsayjeanthomson on Instagram) adapted this challenge for the creative community, encouraging people to do 100 days in a row of something creative. I really recommend you follow them, as they have just launched their campaign, meaning you can work alongside many likeminded people to encourage you and stay on track with your project!

The beauty of this challenge, is it could be anything you want it to be. I’ve seen some people do drills to improve their handwriting, write a book, create 100 mini paintings, or simply write down one word to sum up the day.

Is there something you’ve been wanting to improve on but haven’t yet? Well this is me telling you it’s time to start a 100 Day Project and do that thing!!!

Any More?

I’m sure there are many more prompts, and I’ve only scratched the surface on the many journaling challenges out there. If there are any you really believe should be on this list, let me know which ones and why at my Instagram (@hayleyremdeart) as I’ll be keeping the blog updated!

Anyway, I hope I’ve given you some help and inspiration on how to stay creative during these difficult times. If I have, I would love to know, so tag me on Instagram (@hayleyremdeart) and use #hayleyremdeinspired to get the chance to get your creations featured in my stories!